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I'm interested in your weeks reading holiday in Solitude! Where did you go? Did you get as much reading done as you intended?

Solitude was perhaps a poor way for me to describe it - I wasn't alone, I was with my family (mum, dad, elder brother), but isolated in terms of having no internet connection or mobile phone signal (drove my techie brother and dad crazy, mum and I loved it though).
We went to Cornwall for a week, spent a lot of time going for walks along cliffs, beaches et cetera. A lovely week, despite the rain (or perhaps because of - it's deliciously bleak, and standing atop a cliff with the wind in one's hair, scarf and coat flapping is tremendous fun!)

As far as reading went, I read much less than I'd expected/hoped to. I finished Predator's Gold (it's still pretty good, but not as good as Mortal Engines), read all of Kraken (hard going - took 3/4 of the book before I 'got' Mieville's writing style), and read about 2/3 of Starfish (pretty good, still haven't finished it though).
Only another five weeks until exams are done, then I'll be free to read (and game) to my heart's content!

It actually took me a second read-through to realize that Patrick Rothfuss is actually the genius everyone is celebrating him for. The first read of Name of the Wind left me feeling satisfied but not really impressed. A second read-through had me reading passages to my wife - and only then did I realize that by the gods, that man can write. The style is amazing when read aloud, and extremely poetic.

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I was really enjoying A Wise Man's Fear, until the *Spoilers*Fae bit. The bit with the tree is fine and good and clearly a catalyst for a lot of important events. But the bit with Felurian was a snorefest, I'm not just talking about the not particularily graphic but constant love-making (I think Rothfuss might have a thing about breasts too, they are mentioned like 4 times per paragraph in this bit, I like breasts too, but it's kind of overkill).

But the way suddenly all conversation starts to rhyme felt forced and made me cringe. also it's like he wants to present an erotic scene, but is afraid of anything approaching actual eroticism, with much talk along the lines of 'So i showered her body with kisses for five hours' instead. It really ruined the flow of the book for me.

And Jockie stumbled upon the reason why I won't touch Rothfuss' work. What I've heard from various sources about the stuff with Kvothe and women has put me off massively. I'm not interested in reading about some arrogant brat who shags his way through 900 page tomes.

Yeah, the wise man's fear really felt much more unfocused than the first book. I don't think there would have been any problem removing about 100-200 pages or so and the book would have been better for it. That being said, it's still a good book with some brilliant bits throughout. My favourite probably some of Bast's more intense moments.

And Jockie stumbled upon the reason why I won't touch Rothfuss' work. What I've heard from various sources about the stuff with Kvothe and women has put me off massively. I'm not interested in reading about some arrogant brat who shags his way through 900 page tomes.

To be fair there's no shagging at all in the first 900 page tome and none for the first 450 pages of the 2nd. But then it starts making up for lost time with several chapters exclusively dedicated.

It's more the general attitude towards women in them. Granted, I'm largely going off the Pornokitsch review of the second book, but it's enough to put me off.

That and I've plenty enough to read as it is.

I... don't recall having any problems with how he portrays women, from a feminist perspective? I mean the main character isn't perfect at it and fucks up, but it's not portrayed as like 'damned women who even understands their crazy shit' and more like 'the protagonist is sixteen and doesn't know how this shit works but generally does his best'. Given the agency of all of the prominent women characters in the plot, their range of skills and personalities, and generally the quality of writing that goes into them, I really think you've been misled here.

I... don't recall having any problems with how he portrays women, from a feminist perspective? I mean the main character isn't perfect at it and fucks up, but it's not portrayed as like 'damned women who even understands their crazy shit' and more like 'the protagonist is sixteen and doesn't know how this shit works but generally does his best'. Given the agency of all of the prominent women characters in the plot, their range of skills and personalities, and generally the quality of writing that goes into them, I really think you've been misled here.

Yeah, definitely do not get a misogynist vibe with his books and I am especially sensitive about such matters.

Looks like I'll have to take a trip to the bookstore, I enjoyed Name of the Wind, and while I've grown bored of "young person grows up and becomes powerful" fantasy stories, breaking it up with what was happening in the inn kept my interest.

I've just finished reading Traitor's Gate by Kate Elliot, the third in her 'Crossroads' series (not sure how long this series is going to be), not exceptional fantasy, but interesting enough, focusing on a culture clash between an egalitarian, psuedo-Chinese people, a Hun-like people and cultures that have an obvious Islamic flavour (almost insultingly so in some cases). The outstanding feature was the change in the perception of one of the main characters, he hadn't changed his behaviour, he was just being seen from clearer viewpoint, a brilliant set-up for the next book.

Still reading The Historian. In artistry Kostova is a long ways down from Roy, but the following passage drew a smile:

"A week ago I'd been a normal American graduate student [...] enjoying deep down a sense of the prosperity and moral high ground of my culture even while I pretended to question it and everything else."